


three's a party

by cloudchasers_xx



Series: can’t think straight. [2]
Category: Designated Survivor (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Getting Together, M/M, OT3, a lil bit of angst on aaron's part, fluff????, i'm indulging rn, i'm so confused, wrote this like yesterday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:35:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28477005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudchasers_xx/pseuds/cloudchasers_xx
Summary: “don’t make that face.” suddenly, there’s a hand cupping lyor’s face, cold from the ice pack it had been holding, and lyor looks into aaron’s eyes. “he has the hots for you. definitely you. if i had to choose between me and you, i’d totally choose you.” aaron’s attention drifts off for a moment, then his eyes focus on lyor’s face again, taking all of it in, drifting to his mouth after a moment. “you’re sassy and cute and i’d totally kiss you again, if you wanted to.”lyor blinks. “what?”aaron leans forward a bit. “i would kiss you again.”oh. where’s that coming from? lyor just so keeps from leaning in himself, puts a hand on aaron’s chest instead, pushing him back. “you’re wasted.”“doesn’t mean i don’t know what i want.”
Relationships: Lyor Boone/Aaron Shore, Lyor Boone/Aaron Shore/Seth Wright
Series: can’t think straight. [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1802203
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	three's a party

**Author's Note:**

> i have no idea where this is coming from but me and hideoussundemon have been discussing about this ot3 for quite a while now so i have like two of these. this is the less mature one jsjdjhsjj.

Lyor isn’t staring. Totally not. But it’s hard not to glance at Seth now and then, sitting at a table with a group of friends on the other side of the college cafeteria. The guy is a few semesters ahead of him, and he isn’t just beautiful … There is the way he tilts his head, when he listens to one of his friends speak. Like a king kindly gracing them with his attention. There is the way everybody else falls silent, when he has something to say. The way he holds himself. Like he knows exactly what kind of effect he has on other people.

A hand falls on Lyor’s shoulder, and he yelps. Okay, maybe it has been more than a short glance. He hasn’t even heard someone approach. And when he turns in his chair, he meets brown eyes over a smirk. Just his luck. Of all people Aaron has to be the one to catch him.

The brunette is almost the same age as Seth, but looks distinctly less royal with his leather jacket and cocky attitude. He grabs one of the chairs at Lyor’s table and turns it around so he can rest his arms at the back rest while sitting on it. He grins at Lyor for a moment longer, then looks in Seth’s direction, sucking his lower lip into his mouth for a moment. “You and me both.”

“What?” Lyor says oh so intelligently, his brain still trying to catch up with the fact that Aaron had just said something to him that didn’t sound completely hostile. Last week, Damian had made a snarky comment about Aaron’s family, specifically his cousin, and rumor has it Aaron had made him eat a pencil.

“Mr Good Looking.” Aaron nods into Seth’s direction. “Best looking guy on this godforsaken campus, isn’t he?”

Wait … Aaron has a crush on Seth, too? Good thing Lyor’s chances had been about zero to begin with. But then something else gets his attention. “Does he know you call him that?”

Aaron grins. “Yes, and he hates it. Says something about how he’s not just a piece of meat or something.”

“Dude, that doesn’t sound like the best way to get him to like you.” The words are out before Lyor can think about them. The next moment panic sets in. Fuck! You don’t tell Aaron he’s doing something wrong.

But the guy just laughs and slaps Lyor’s shoulder. “‘Like’ is not what I was going for. But he has more eyes for you anyway.”

“What?” He probably should stop saying that. But this has to be a joke.

Aaron leans over the backrest of his chair into Lyor’s personal space a bit, looking at his face like he’s searching for something. The smell of leather and the faint whiff of cologne hits Lyor’s nose, not unpleasant. “You didn’t notice?”

“I think I would’ve noticed, if the most handsome guy on the campus so much as looked at me!” Lyor protests, completely forgetting who he’s talking to. This definitely has to be a joke.

“I can prove it.”

Yeah, sure. “How?” Lyor challenges. If Aaron hasn’t gotten mad at him by now he might as well stop worrying.

Aaron stays as he is, slightly leaned forward right into Lyor’s personal space. A grin tugs at the corners of his mouth again. “Make him jealous.”

Lyor snorts a laugh, but he doesn’t back away. “That’ll never work.”

“Afraid?”

“I just think it’s a stupid idea.” Lyor holds Aaron’s gaze, half convinced the older guy will finally get angry. But instead Aaron straightens up again.

“Suit yourself.” He shoves his hands in the pockets of his ragged jeans and shrugs, attention shifting towards Seth again. Lyor follows his gaze. Seth smiles at something one of the others says, and Lyor wishes that smile would be directed at him. And now he’ll never know, if Aaron did tell the truth after all.

When Lyor looks back at Aaron, Aaron is looking at him, lifting an eyebrow that’s adorned with several piercings.

“Fine,” Lyor says. “Prove it.”

The smile that appears on Aaron’s face now is way too smug. He waves Lyor closer, and the younger man scoots his chair towards him. Aaron leans even further over the backrest of his chair and cups Lyor face with one hand. And holy shit those eyes can probably stare holes into one’s soul. For a moment Lyor feels like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car.

Then Aaron asks: “Sure?”

And for some reason that makes Lyor feel a lot better. “Afraid all of a sudden?”

Aaron snorts a laugh, then their lips meet.

It’s a hesitant thing. It’s just a fake kiss after all, isn’t it? So it turns out to be not much more than a peck on the lips, then Aaron leans back again, frowning slightly. “Come on, at least try and make it look like you mean it.”

“It takes two people for a kiss,” Lyor grumbles, annoyed.

“And there I was being nice, leaving you the lead ...” The twinkle in Aaron’s eyes is the only warning Lyor gets. Then the older guy grabs the front of Lyor’s shirt and pulls him in again. Lyor gives a small gasp that gets swallowed by Aaron, when their lips meet again. To keep his balance, Lyor’s hands land on Aaron’s shoulders. Okay … Aaron wants convincing? He can get it. Lyor’s tongue darts out, and he hears Aaron chuckle, before he answers in kind. For a moment Lyor almost forgets about Seth. Damn, Aaron can kiss.

Finally, Aaron let’s go of his shirt and leans back a little. For a moment Lyor just stares at him, which makes Aaron chuckle again. “Are you going to sneak a glance at him?”

Oh. Yes. Carefully Lyor turns to look.

His heart stops for a moment, when he sees Seth staring at them. He’s sitting completely still, his lips slightly parted. Only when he sees that Lyor is looking at him, he turns away, visibly pulling himself together, answering a question one of his friends asked.

“See?” Aaron says.

“That could’ve been meant for you, too,” Lyor says. His heart is still beating fast, though, not just because of the way Seth had looked at them. His lips are also still tingling from the kiss.

Aaron shrugs. “I guess. Wanna make a bet which one of us he has the hots for?”

Lyor turns back to Aaron, eyes narrowed. “Betting what?”

“If I’m right and it’s you, you have to buy me lunch for a week. That way I’m at least getting something out of it. If it’s me, I’ll buy you lunch for a week.”

That doesn’t sound too bad. “Fine. Deal.” It’s sad, of course, but Lyor is convinced this is a bet he will win easily, or lose for that matter, because winning means not getting Seth. Presented with the choice between unassuming him and hot bad boy Aaron, who wouldn’t choose Aaron?

It doesn’t look like they’ve accomplished much, though, apart from making Seth stare. Now that they have started talking, though, they keep bumping into each other. When Lyor is standing in the cafeteria a few days later, his lunch on a tray, looking for an empty table, Aaron waves him over. It feels quite natural to follow the invitation. It even feels natural to go: “Dude, can you take your boots off the table while I’m eating?”

Aaron grins and places his feet on an empty chair instead.

A few more days later, when some idiot corners Lyor for talking to his girlfriend, Lyor kind of makes a mess out of it by talking back. He knows of course that he should just nod and apologize and assure the guy that he hadn’t known the girl was his and that he was so sorry. Instead he says: “I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware that talking to someone automatically means expressing interest in them.” Then he makes a point of checking the guy out. “Looks like I should better tell you right away you’re not my type.”

It’s his luck that Aaron happens to walk by right when the guy grabs Lyor and shoves him against a wall. Aaron stops, hands in his pockets. “Patrick.”

Patrick turns with an annoyed look on his face, and freezes, when he recognizes Aaron.

“Let my friend go, will you?” Aaron doesn’t even raise his voice. He doesn’t even stop smiling. Still, Patrick lets go of Lyor as if he has burned his fingers touching him and hurries away.

While Lyor catches his breath, Aaron pats his back. “Patrick's usually just 100% posturing. What did you do to make him angry?”

“Told him he’s not my type.”

Aaron laughs for five minutes straight.

* * *

It’s the party that changes everything. Lyor steps out of the backdoor of the house where the thing is going down to catch a bit of fresh air, when he spies a figure sitting with their back leaned against the wall next to the door. It takes his eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light out here and recognize Aaron. Lyor isn’t sure, but there seems to be blood running down from Aaron’s lip. Instantly he squats down next to the older guy and touches his shoulder. “You alright?”

Aaron turns his head slowly. “Yeah, great. You should see the other guy.” His speech is slurred, but judging by the smell of booze that hits Lyor with every breath that’s not due to a concussion.

Without thinking, Lyor grabs Aaron’s face and turns it into the light coming from the door. Definitely blood coming from a split lip, and there’s a bruise forming on Aaron’s cheek. Apart from that he seems alright. The pupils react to the light normal, too. Definitely no concussion.

Lyor tells Aaron to stay where he is - not that he looks like he’s going to go anywhere soon - and heads back into the house to grab a cup of water, some tissues and a bag of ice. Back outside he makes Aaron drink half the cup to clear his head a bit, then uses the rest to wipe the blood away.

“You’re cute, when you’re mothering me,” Aaron slurs.

“I’m not mothering you!” Lyor protests. He presses the ice against Aaron’s cheek and makes him hold it. “What did you fight over anyway?”

“Someone was talking shit about Seth. Called him arrogant, said he was only getting good grades, because he was going down on professors. Called him some slurs I’m not gonna repeat.”

That makes Lyor’s heart do weird things. It swells, because Aaron defended their crush, but there’s also a pang of jealousy that Lyor isn’t sure where it’s coming from, because he hadn’t had it before when Aaron had been talking about having a crush on Seth. So far there had only been a little bit of sadness, because he is still convinced he’ll never get closer to Seth than admiring him from afar.

“Don’t make that face.” Suddenly, there’s a hand cupping Lyor’s face, cold from the ice pack it had been holding, and Lyor looks into Aaron’s eyes. “He has the hots for you. Definitely you. If I had to choose between me and you, I’d totally choose you.” Aaron’s attention drifts off for a moment, then his eyes focus on Lyor’s face again, taking all of it in, drifting to his mouth after a moment. “You’re sassy and cute and I’d totally kiss you again, if you wanted to.”

Lyor blinks. “What?”

Aaron leans forward a bit. “I would kiss you again.”

Oh. Where’s that coming from? Lyor just so keeps from leaning in himself, puts a hand on Aaron’s chest instead, pushing him back. “You’re wasted.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t know what I want.”

“Is that so?” It’s probably better to try and get his friend home. Even though Lyor isn’t sure how he is going to get that giant of a man off the ground. He’s not actually taller than Lyor, but broader and heavier. Hopefully Aaron can at least somewhat stand by himself.

“Yeah,” Aaron says. “I want you and Seth both, you know. It’s a bit confusing.” He stares into the distance, thoughtful. “Usually I get what I want,” he goes on conversationally. “Haven’t figured that one out yet, though. Drinking too much didn’t help either. Don’t know why I thought it would.”

Lyor’s heart speeds up despite himself. It’s just drunk rambling. It doesn’t mean anything. At least that’s what he tries to tell himself.

He’s still trying when he helps Aaron up the stairs of his dorm and into his room. When he just lets Aaron fall onto his bed and squats down to get at least the boots off him. When Aaron props himself up onto his elbows and looks down on him.

“I like that view,” he informs Lyor.

Lyor definitely doesn’t blush.

He still tries to convince himself, when he leaves Aaron snoring on his bed and heads home to his own empty and cold one.

* * *

It’s the next morning Lyor runs into Seth. The older guy almost hurries past him in the corridors, when he stops suddenly and turns to Lyor with a half smile. “Lyor, isn’t it?”

Lyor freezes. For a moment he forgets how to do words and he just nods.

Seth’s smile widens and Lyor could’ve sworn it gets brighter in the hallway. “Tell your boyfriend my thanks for what he did yesterday, okay? I heard about it this morning, but I haven’t seen him anywhere.” His face gets a bit more serious. “Not that I condone violence, but sometimes ...” He leaves the sentence hanging, his smile getting a bit lopsided.

“Uh …” Lyor’s brain has a hard time catching up right now. “Boyfriend?”

“Yes.” Seth tilts his head to the side in a questioning way. “Aaron? I thought you were …” He looks at his feet, obviously a little bit embarrassed. “I saw you kiss.”

Oh. _Oh_. Well, that backfired apparently. “Oh no, we’re … we just …” Yes, what? He can’t hardly tell the truth. Or can he? Suddenly Lyor has to think about what Aaron said yesterday. That he wants both of them. Maybe he did mean it. And Lyor actually likes the idea, if he’s honest. So he makes a probably stupid decision.

He totally wouldn’t have dared what he is about to do, if it would’ve been just about him. But Aaron had said he can’t figure out how to get what he wants. Maybe Lyor can help him out with that.

“Actually,” he says, heart beating rapidly. “We were just trying to get your attention.”

Seth’s lips form a surprised o. After a moment he collects himself, clears his throat. At least he doesn’t look completely uninterested. “So … which one of you wants my attention?”

The fact that his crush hasn’t run away so far gives Lyor the courage to go on. “Both.”

Seth’s eyebrows shoot up. “Both?”

That is too much, isn’t it? Lyor goes for an apologetic smile and another nod. At least he’s pretty sure Seth will be very polite in turning them down. That’s something, isn’t it?

“Well, then …” Seth smiles again, making Lyor hope despite everything. “Would both of you be interested to watch a movie with me next weekend?”

Lyor can’t believe what he’s hearing. He took a risk and it’s actually working out? Guess there's a first time for everything “I …” He takes a deep breath. “I can’t speak for Aaron of course, but I think we would.”

The best thing about this is that Seth suddenly looks genuinely happy. “I guess we should exchange phone numbers then.”

Lyor hurries to nod. “Yes we should.”

* * *

Ten minutes later Lyor sits in a lecture, not listening to what his professor has to say at all. Instead he’s texting.

_**Lyor:** I got us a date with Seth._

_**Aaron:** Congrats, I guess. _

_**Aaron** : Wait, what do you mean ‘us’?_

_**Lyor:** Both of us._

_**Aaron** : Are you serious?_

Lyor sneakily snaps a selfie of himself making a serious face. He sends it to Aaron.

_**Lyor** : Do I look like I’m joking?_

_**Aaron** : I may be in love with you._

Lyor smiles.

_**Lyor** : I was hoping you’d say something like that._

_**Aaron:** I’ll kiss you for real the next time we meet._

_**Lyor** : I’m very okay with that._

_**Aaron** : I also want to know every detail of how you pulled off that miracle._

_**Lyor** : Get your hungover ass to the cafeteria for lunch and I’ll tell you. We have to buy each other lunch now for the next week anyway._

_**Aaron** : It’s a date._

_**Lyor** : Hey, look who managed to get two dates today ;-)_

_**Aaron** : Don’t get too smug._

_**Lyor** : Too late :)_

**Author's Note:**

> leave a kudos and comment lmao


End file.
